The home brew thread

mscenterh750 said:
bumbleblue said:
Do the instructions mention the campden tabs at all...did you use tap water or spring water??
Click to expand...
No the instructions never said about sterilising the water. I used tap water and touch wood the brew will be ok.
Click to expand...
I am guessing that campden tabs neutralise heavy metals ..i am sure some of your more experienced brewers will be on to advise..for what it is worth if that is the issue ..the time is your friend as they they will dissipate naturally over time..i know this from fish keeping not brewing anyway ..my best guess would be to leave it as long as you can...hopefully taxi or tiny or one of the other seasoned brew Meisters will be along shortly...hope it goes superbly .
 
mscenterh750 said:
bumbleblue said:
Do the instructions mention the campden tabs at all...did you use tap water or spring water??
Click to expand...
No the instructions never said about sterilising the water. I used tap water and touch wood the brew will be ok.
Click to expand...

It will be fine mate

Potassium metabisulfite
Mainly used in the winemaking circles to neutralize wild yeast growth and as an antioxidant or chemical sterilizer
Used sometimes for beer making to neutralize cloramine
Not as widely used though in the beer making circles.

I personally do not use tap water for my brewing.
I prefer to use natural spring water.
I have said on here many times how cheap this can be.
Best value is Tesco spring at 8p a litre
One pound and seventy pennies per 40 pints to make your brews the very best they can be and utilize the empties afterwards if you so desire
What's not to like ?

Looking forward to your review on the saint petes ruby red.
Really fancy brewing this one.

Cheers
Taxi;
 
Cheers taxi and bumble for your advice. Tesco water sounds very good and cheap. Priming and kegging shall commence tomorrow or Thursday, then it's a long wait 2 months maybe, before I will attempt consumption. I'll let you all know how it is.

I've just ordered a milestone black pearl stout and an extra fermentation vessel that has a little bottler tap on it.
 
Taximania said:
Mail does not seem to be going outbound to you pal
So I will reply on here for you
Its OK Rushts and it is quite a comprehensive kit for £62.
Not too sure on the 24 pet bottles
It says enough for a 40 pint batch
24 X 500ML is 12 litres and twelve litres is not 40 pints twent three litres is.
And anyway as a start up kit you prefer the barrel and it has that already included.
And I guess its not a true start up kit as you still have to go and but the beer which you will have to remember to add £20 on top off which takes it to £82

There is a problem with these barrels too as they only have a two inch top.
Try cleaning that after using
You will need a hand like Handsomes out of scary movie 5

If you are definitely into the beer kit form then personally I would recommend this one

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Milestone-Lions-Pride-HomeBrew-Starter-Kit.html#.VA9BMleGdjU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/aca ... A9BMleGdjU</a>

The reason being it is a complete beer starter kit
The beer included is truly grand
The barrel it uses is the king keg which is far more sturdier and uses a four inch top which makes cleaning an absolute doddle
They come in either top tap or bottom tap format
And it included additional 10 pack of co2 capsules
This kit works out cheaper than the one you showed me as yours had no included real ale.
Check out the reviews on the king keg it will serve you well and you can change the tap for a sparkler tap for that professional finish

Personally I would keep the cost down and go the wilko route for under the £40 mark and just bottle your brew up in Tesco spring empties.

But the above starter kit is indeed an excellent choice
Coopers do a great complete kit but that is for lager however and your poison of choice was the ale
Hope it all goes well
Click to expand...

Cheers for your reply mate and your time. The kit is for my son's birthday so if i go down the keg route it just keeps things easier and our kitchen cleaner lol. Can the above kit be used for lager if he wants to do some for his second brew?

Cheers again Taxi.
 
rushts said:
Taximania said:
Mail does not seem to be going outbound to you pal
So I will reply on here for you
Its OK Rushts and it is quite a comprehensive kit for £62.
Not too sure on the 24 pet bottles
It says enough for a 40 pint batch
24 X 500ML is 12 litres and twelve litres is not 40 pints twent three litres is.
And anyway as a start up kit you prefer the barrel and it has that already included.
And I guess its not a true start up kit as you still have to go and but the beer which you will have to remember to add £20 on top off which takes it to £82

There is a problem with these barrels too as they only have a two inch top.
Try cleaning that after using
You will need a hand like Handsomes out of scary movie 5

If you are definitely into the beer kit form then personally I would recommend this one

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk...-Pride-HomeBrew-Starter-Kit.html#.VA9BMleGdjU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/aca ... A9BMleGdjU</a>

The reason being it is a complete beer starter kit
The beer included is truly grand
The barrel it uses is the king keg which is far more sturdier and uses a four inch top which makes cleaning an absolute doddle
They come in either top tap or bottom tap format
And it included additional 10 pack of co2 capsules
This kit works out cheaper than the one you showed me as yours had no included real ale.
Check out the reviews on the king keg it will serve you well and you can change the tap for a sparkler tap for that professional finish

Personally I would keep the cost down and go the wilko route for under the £40 mark and just bottle your brew up in Tesco spring empties.

But the above starter kit is indeed an excellent choice
Coopers do a great complete kit but that is for lager and your poison of choice was the ale
Hope it all goes well
Click to expand...

Cheers for your reply mate and your time. The kit is for my son's birthday so if i go down the keg route it just keeps things easier and our kitchen cleaner lol. Can the above kit be used for lager if he wants to do some for his second brew?

Cheers again Taxi.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not mate as they were never designed to handle the higher pressures that lager demands
For lager storage you would need a stainless steel Cornelius keg

You can still brew lagers but would need to bottle them and just save the king keg for the ales and IPA's etc


2co613p.jpg


These will cost you in the region of £150 plus
The benefits of Cornelius systems is that you do not have to prime your lager with dextrose or sugar but can force carbonate instead

Taken from the internet
Follow the same steps as under ‘natural conditioning’ above, except do not add priming sugar. Put the keg into the fridge to cool it down. After four to eight hours, hook up CO2 again, set regulator to the desired level of carbonation, and open the gas line. Rock the keg for several minutes until no more swishing is audible. It is helpful to orient the keg on its side to maximize surface area the gas can dissolve into. When you no longer detect any swishing or noise coming from the regulator you are almost there. Continue for a few more minutes. Now the beer is saturated with CO2 at the desired level. Shut off the CO2, disconnect the hoses, and store the beer for three days. After that time it is ready to serve. Force carbonating takes less time but uses up more CO2.

Back to me
Lagers demand a great deal more carbonation Rushts probably around 2.5 2.7 volume co2
To achieve this you need to add between 160-200gram of dextrose to prime up as opposed to 80-100 for ales

Typical levels are

American ales 2.2–3.0
British ales 1.5–2.2
German weizens 2.8–5.1
Belgian ales 2.0–4.5
European lagers 2.4–2.6
American lagers 2.5–2.8


And this is why I advertised my king keg for sale
Just prefer the lagers to the real ales
Love the real ales but not my poison of choice.
The only suppable that offers me zero comfort is stouts and Guinness and Murphy'S and cacky sheet like that
 
Last edited:
mscenterh750 said:
Cheers taxi and bumble for your advice. Tesco water sounds very good and cheap. Priming and kegging shall commence tomorrow or Thursday, then it's a long wait 2 months maybe, before I will attempt consumption. I'll let you all know how it is.

I've just ordered a milestone black pearl stout and an extra fermentation vessel that has a little bottler tap on it.
Click to expand...
I've got the little bottler (in fact I've got two) and it is ace. Its made bottling really easy.

I have one little bottler tap on my fermenter and one on the bottling bucket. I connect my siphon tube to the little bottler tap on the fermenter to transfer the beer into the bottling bucket so there's no need to mess around sucking the end of the tube etc. Then use the bottling wand to fill the bottles from bottling bucket.
 
Crabbers said:
mscenterh750 said:
Cheers taxi and bumble for your advice. Tesco water sounds very good and cheap. Priming and kegging shall commence tomorrow or Thursday, then it's a long wait 2 months maybe, before I will attempt consumption. I'll let you all know how it is.

I've just ordered a milestone black pearl stout and an extra fermentation vessel that has a little bottler tap on it.
Click to expand...
I've got the little bottler (in fact I've got two) and it is ace. Its made bottling really easy.

I have one little bottler tap on my fermenter and one on the bottling bucket. I connect my siphon tube to the little bottler tap on the fermenter to transfer the beer into the bottling bucket so there's no need to mess around sucking the end of the tube etc. Then use the bottling wand to fill the bottles from bottling bucket.
Click to expand...

Bottling wand? What's that?
 
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